“In 1975, the parents of a 13-year-old girl were relaxing in New York’s Central Park, basking in the glow of a Broadway-musical matinee. In the distance, Dr. Bill Bruehl, the father, spied the…

“Along with our idealism, there was an unquestioning faith in the unprecedented technological expertise of the time, accompanied by a blindness to the extreme dangers inherent in these missions. If you stop to…

“I’m a little embarrassed to tell you this, Sir, but some nights I have dreams, Mr. President, dreams of you as the baby Jesus, lying in the manger at Radio City Music Hall,…

“My heart did not break for three decades and then it did and I began to see things from inside out / and the outside lost sheen and dust / Interior worlds, my…

“The continuing popularity of the books I’ve mentioned is evidence of our interest in encountering, however vicariously, those archetypal things that go bump in the night. But why? I can’t help but believe…

“What I do remember, and perhaps few others are alive to share these memories now, is that, before the tourists, came the painters. Greece, and the Cyclades in particular, with their ethereal, stunning…

“I love this part of the season. The distortion in today’s schedule, a natural result of the league expansion, means that, often, crucial playoff series are played in weather better suited to football,…

“. . . the world lost a loquacious, generous, and gifted writer; a troubled soul, who made his life work out of his struggle to overcome his difficulties; a liar who made a…

“I would be the official who took care of hopelessly messy piles of straps, strings, ropes, nets, electrical cords, and even roots and weeds. To untangle them. To turn hopeless knots back into…

“My Great Uncle Costas who, when I was a child, spoke to me of matters glorious and ideas which other adults considered far beyond my understanding, once told me that time moved backwards…